Riding While Strapped: Holsters and Points of Carry

Where you carry and how you carry, matters.

We have all seen the movie or television show where the wanna-be badass pulls his gun from his waistband with no regard for the threat of chaffing. Often in these films or shows, you witness the same character firing his weapon while holding it sideways, affectionately known as the Kill Shot. In the many adventures of my life, I have been in some tight spots where I’ve witnessed real people in people in real life carrying their weapons carelessly in their waistbands sans holster. I am only going to say this once: Stop it.

Not only is this practice dangerous, unpractical and nontactical, but it is also straight up idiotic. Anyone that improperly carries a firearm on their body, be it their waistband or depending on the size of the gun, in their pocket, is a prime candidate for the Darwinism Award of the Century. Now imagine and apply that same level of stupidity to carrying in that manner while riding. The level of stupidity skyrockets to high fuckery.

Let me back it up here, slightly. I admit that when I first began carrying, I struggled with finding a proper holster that was both functional and comfortable. I experimented with multiple styles of holsters and points of carrying on my body. I spent a considerable amount of time and money trying out both leather and Kydex IWB holsters, OWB holsters and even a shoulder holster. There are a few types of materials that holsters can be made of: leather, Kydex, nylon, hybrid. Each material comes with their own set of pros and cons mostly on the matter of the level of comfort versus durability. Then it was a question of where do I carry: small of the back, appendix, hip or some variation thereof. Eventually, I found a combination that worked for me. However, when I began to carry while riding, the exploration process started all over again.